cheekybids
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Premier League’s financial rules are broken, says Crystal Palace co-owner
John Textor says it makes no sense that billionaires face limits on what they can spend to improve their clubs and believes that Nottingham Forest should not be deducted points for breaking rules
Martyn Ziegler
Chief Sports Reporter
Thursday February 29 2024, 7.00pm, The Times
Textor, Palace’s largest shareholder, said that the Premier League’s financial rules make it harder for the smaller clubs in the top flight to catch up with the largest teams
Crystal Palace’s largest shareholder John Textor has criticised the Premier League’s financial rules saying they prevent smaller clubs from competing against richer rivals.
The American businessman, who owns 45 per cent of Palace, said it was “not right” for Nottingham Forest to be docked points — Forest are facing a points deduction after accepting they breached Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) last season — and sympathised with the club’s owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Everton have already been docked six points and are facing another hearing for a PSR breach.
Asked about PSR, Textor said: “It’s clear that they’re built to make sure that clubs who do not drive significant revenues cannot catch up.
“It doesn’t matter if you have a billion dollars of cash in a wheelbarrow, you’re not allowed to spend it. Does that make any sense? Marinakis has plenty of money to fund his team but he’s not allowed to. If he spends too much and does what the fans want, somebody comes along and docks him points? That’s not right
“Financial Fair Play is a fraud of a term, to say it’s about sustainability. The sustainability issue is a fraudulent issue. Sustainability should be about the quality of your balance sheet, not ratios against your profit and loss. Nobody actually thinks that makes sense.
“If you have a billion pounds of cash and you’re sustainable — more sustainable than most clubs in the league — but you’re not allowed to spend this, everybody should be saying this, it doesn’t make sense.
Forest, who are owned by Marinakis, could be docked points after admitting breaking the league’s financial rules
“We have got three billionaires in our ownership group, maybe more. We’re not allowed to spend at the level of teams that are in the top six. Josh Harris has no trouble with money, he just bought an NFL team [the Washington Commanders], he owns the [Philadelphia] 76ers [basketball team]. But Steve [Parish, co-owner and chairman] is not allowed to go out and spend that kind of money, he gets docked points and sent to the second division.
“I’m just saying you cannot have a rule that says somebody who has the money is not allowed to spend it because their club isn’t big enough. Yet how do you get big ever?
Textor was speaking after addressing the FT Business of Football Summit in London, where he raised the issue of PSR, suggesting they may be anti-competitive.
He added: “I’ve got to somehow find a way to put Crystal Palace against Erling Haaland, and if you have an injury at Palace, you don’t get to pull a £15 million player off the bench, you’ve got to take someone from your academy, because you can’t afford to have that [£15 million] player on your bench. That is not sport. Is anyone really having fun with this? It’s broken.”
Did Palace vote for it?
It’s amazing they always use a City player as the example.
